“Today’s report is a start, but until we have a considerably stronger framework in place AI will remain a threat to the music industry ecosystem.” Image credit: Shutterstock.
In order for Artificial Intelligence to generate a new piece of music it needs to be trained using millions of existing human-created recordings.
The government-proposed exception would have allowed AI firms to use the entire history of British recorded music for this training with no permission required from the original creator and no money payable to them.
The exception was not proposed for just non-commercial research purposes either, but for all uses including commercial release and sale of the AI outputs, in competition with the human-created works on which they had been trained.
The MU continues to fight
Phil Kear, MU Assistant General Secretary, appeared on Sky News Breakfast this morning to welcome the findings of the report, but also to highlight that the government now needed to go even further than its recommendations. He said:
“What we now need is for the government to qualify that the use of sound recordings to train AI is an act protected by current copyright law, and to establish a means of enforcement on tech firms who have already trampled over such protections.
“Further, we need additional un-waivable rights established that enable creators to refuse permission for their creations to be used to train AI, or to receive a fair share of the income generated from the output of an AI if they agree to the use of their creations for training purposes.
“Additional protection of ‘personality rights’ are required for artists and performers, to prevent deep fakes, or use of their voice or likeness without their prior permission.
“The government should enforce labelling of recordings generated by Artificial Intelligence, so the public can easily and clearly establish what is human-created and what is not, and also full and accurate record-keeping by tech firms to ensure the recordings used to train an Artificial Intelligence are recognised and financially rewarded accordingly.
“Today’s report is a start, but until we have a considerably stronger framework in place AI will remain a threat to the music industry ecosystem.”